Woman&#39;s brief undergarment



April 13, 1954 R. B. HAAS 2,674,997

WOMANS BRIEF UNDERGARMENT Filed Jan. 21, 1952 AmM/EYJ Patented Apr. .13, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WOMANS BRIEF UNDERGARMENT Ruth B. Haas, Hutchinson, Minn.

Application January 21, 1952, Serial No. 267,395

3 Claims.

My invention relates to a womans brief undergarment to be worn next to the skin and which is capable of being satisfactorily worn under some kind of a foundation garment, such as panties, girdles and the like, of which the latter may be formed of different types of material such as standard silk or cotton fabrics, rubber and the like.

Many women, especially heavier women, are so formed that the inner surfaces of the upper part of their thighs will contact, and during the act of walking the skin, often moist with perspiration, of the two legs may be rubbed against each other producing chafing. soreness and general discomfort. At the same time the older type of garment which used to be referred to as drawers, and which has complete fabric leg portions, cannot be worn under foundation garments without such bunching and distortion as to seriously interfere with the fit and style appearance of garments such as dresses, worn over the foundation garment.

I have discovered that, if a garment is provided which will be supported at the waist with relatively narrow portions at the back and front, the back being approximately V-shaped and the front having substantially parallel side edges, and having, as worn, downwardly extending strips or panels which run along the insides of the upper parts of the thighs, and are held in position by suitable means which surround a lower portion of the thighs, both difficulties above enumerated will be satisfactorily avoided.

The portions of the insides of the thighs which contact and rub against each other will then be covered with a soft strip of cloth, and the friction from such rubbing in walking will be taken up entirely by the contacting strips. At the same time the rest of the leg portions from the waist down at each side will be free and uncovered so that foundation or other overlying garments will be fitted and free from bunching and will properly hold gowns, dresses, skirts and the like to effect the best-dressed and most stylish appearance.

It is the object of my invention, therefore, to provide a womans undergarment in the form of a brief or some type of pantie to be worn next to the skin wherein the central parts of the front and back of the body below the waistline are covered with relatively narrow portions of the garment and there will be narrow strips or panels extending downwardly from the outer edges of these narrow front and back portions of the garment which cover the upper inside parts of the 2 thighs of the wearer so that in walking there can be no friction, and rubbing and chafing of the skin is prevented by such downwardly extending strips.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a fastening means in the form of elastic loops each of which are connected at their ends with a lower corner of said strip and which encircles the respective thighs, are open at the middle portion of the thighs and whichholds the strip firmly in contact with the inside of the thighs from its junction with the body at the crotch.

It is a further object of my invention to have one end of the loop, preferably the back end, permanently fastened to a lower corner of the downwardly extending strip and the other end secured by a snap fastener or other type of fastener for ease in assembling the garment upon the wearer.

It is a, further object of my invention to form the front panel having a separation between the belt and the lower part of the front removably secured together by snap fasteners so that in conjunction with removal of the snaps and the separation of the loops the front and center part of the garment can be pulled down and pushed rearwardly when conditions make that desirable.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear in connection with a detailed description thereof hereinafter given and the novel features by which the aforementioned highly useful and advantageous results are secured will be correspondingly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings showing an application of my invention in one of its forms:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the figure of a woman showing the garment in place and showing in dotted lines how any foundation garment will lie in reference thereto.

Fig. 2 is a similar side elevation of the garment showing how the outer parts of the body and the limbs are free from any cloth or bunching of cloth, and how the strips overlying the upper part of the insides of the thighs are in position to absorb all friction and rubbing action in walking.

Fig. 3 is a back view of the garment showing the strips between the upper parts of the thighs in position to take up any frictional rubbing stresses during walking.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged front view of the garment alone, not on a figure, showing schematically the relation of the different parts of the garment and their manner of being connected.

Fig. is a sectional elevation view taken in a line extending vertically through the center of the garment as it appears in Fig. 4 and showing the relation and manner of securing of the different parts thereof.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the central connecting piece showing the parts connected therewith.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the garment is supported by a waistband I a which has a back section it and a front section I2 of non-elastic material, and between the ends of sections H and I2 are elastic portions I3 and I4 which come at the sides and toward the front of the garment, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, this waistband will fit snugly the waist of the wearer and hold the garment in properly adjusted position upon the body of the wearer under any type of foundation or other overlying garment, such as indicated in dotted lines at I5 and IS in Fig. 1.

The overlying garment extends unbroken around the sides from the waist to its lower portion and customarily has attached thereto hose supporters i! and It.

The garment of my invention, however, as Figs. 1, 2 and 3 clearly show, does not overlie the entire circumference of the body anywhere, but has a back portion I9 which is connected to an in elastic back band portion I I and which is roughly of a comparatively narrow triangular outer dimension. A still narrower front portion formed in two parts 2i] and 2 I, with substantially parallel side edges, and the back portion 19 have their lower edge connected to hemmed side edges 23 and 24 of a central connecting part 22, as shown in Fig. 5. As shown, the part 22 is a continuation of piece 2!, but it may, if desired, be a separate piece.

The two front pieces and ZI are transversely connected for separation at 25 by means of fastening members, such as snap fasteners 26, of which one part 21 is attached to the front member 20 and the other part 28 is attached to the lower front part 2!, as best shown in Fig. 4. Front piece 2| and its center part 22 are united to the hemmed upper edge 24' and to the crotch part 29, as indicated at 23, and the lower edges of parts 22 and 29 form a hemmed junction with the lower edge of back part IS. The part designated as 29 overlies the entire surface of the inner connector layer 22.

The piece as comprises a single piece of fabric of an outline shown in Fig. 6. The central portion of this piece corresponds to the piece 22 above described and is extended outwardly therefrom in winglike extensions 39 and 3|. As worn, the piece 22 and the central portion 29 will be gathered together at the crotch. The winglike extensions 30 and ill will be carried along the inside of the upper part of the thigh facing each other, as clearly indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and also as shown in Fig. 4. This forms a layer of soft fabric over the inside only of the thighs in a position to contact during walking and absorb any friction or rubbing which, if taking place on the contacting skin, might produce irritation and chafing.

In order to hold these pieces firmly and smoothly in place I provide elastic tapes 32 and 33 respectively which are permanently fastened as at 34 for extension 30, and 35 on extension 3! and which are provided at the free end with a snap member 36 which takes into a snap eye 31 at the bottom edge of extensions 30 and 3|. These elastic tapes fit about a somewhat lower part of the thigh which is of slightly less diameter than that part covered by extension 36 and SI, and therefore hold such extensions tight and smooth over the part of the thigh which might contact in Walking. 7

The advantages of my invention resides in the fact that only a small portion of the front and back of the body along its central median line is covered by fabric. The extensions down the in sides of the thighs at the upper thick parts thereof are the only parts which cover any part of the body leaving the outsides of the body from the waist down and along the legs without any material which could wrinkle or bunch under foundation garments of any sort or could eifect the fit and style of outer garments that are worn.

Another great advantage resides in the fact that the garment is unitary and While it covers only relatively small parts of the body it is held effectively in position to perform the functions required of it.

A further advantage is that with the snap fastening between the two parts of the front of the garment and the snap fastener for the elastic tapes the garment may readily be separated to be removed in part when required.

I claim:

1. A combination undergarment, comprising a pantie formed of front and rear panels, a waistband united to the upper limits of said panels, the opposite sides of the lower end of one of said panels converging to form a shaped crotch por tion, a chafe shield formed of a strip of material overlying the shaped crotch portion at right angles and having substantially rectangular extensions on either side of the crotch portion, each or" said extensions being of a length to substantially cover the inner adjacent sides of the thighs, a first pair of spaced apart rows of stitches securing the opposite lateral edges of the overlying portions of the chafe shield to the crotch portion, a second pair of spaced apart rows of stitches securing the opposite lateral edges of the crotch portion to the overlying portion of the chafe shield, and anchoring means secured to the opposite lateral sides of each end of the extensions for anchoring the outer ends of the chafe shield to hold the extensions in smooth contact with the inner sides of the thighs.

2. A combination undergarment, comprising a pantie formed of front and rear panels, a waistband united to the upper limits of said panels, the lateral edges of the rear panel converging and forming a shaped crotch portion, the lateral edges of the front panel being substantially parallel, means detachably securing the outer ends of each of said panels adjacent the crotch portion, a chafe shield formed of a strip of material overlying the shaped crotch portion of the rear pantie panel at right angles and having substantially rectangular extensions on either side of the crotch portion, each of said extensions being of.

a length to substantially cover the inner adjacent sides of the thighs, a first pair of spaced apart rows of stitches securing the opposite lateral edges of the overlying portions of the chafe shield to the crotch portion of the rear pantie panel, a second pair of spaced apart rows of stitches securing the opposite lateral edges of the crotch portion of the rear pantie panel to the overlying portion of the chafe shield, and securing means secured to the lower limits of each of the extensions for anchoring the outer ends of the extensions in contact with the legs below the thighs to hold the extensions in smooth contact with the inner sides of the thighs.

3. A combination undergarment, comprising a waistband, a rear panel secured at one end to the waistband, the lateral edges of said rear panel converging and forming a shaped crotch portion, a chafe shield formed of a single strip of material overlying the crotch portion at right angles and having substantially rectangular extensions on either side of the crotch portion, each of said extensions being of a length to substantially cover the inner adjacent sides of the thighs, a first pair of spaced apart rows of stitches securing the opposite lateral edges of the overlying portion of the chafe shield to the crotch portion, a second pair of spaced apart rows of stitches securing the opposite lateral edges of the crotch portion to the overlying portion of the chafe shield, a front panel secured at one end to the Waistband, means for detachably securing the other end of the front panel to the forward end of the crotch portion, and anchoring means secured to the opposite lateral sides of each end of the extensions for anchoring the extensions in smooth contact with the inner sides of the thighs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,376,783 Schoen May 3, 1921 2,293,346 Laskin Apr. 18, 1942 2,382,477 Goodman Aug. 14, 1945 

